Law Enforcement Officers' Perceptions of Florida's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program

• NCJ Number: 252554
• Journal: Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 33 Issue: 4 Dated: 2017 Pages: 168-379
• Author(s): Nicholas M. Perez; Wesley G. Jennings; Yanning Wang; Chris Delcher
• Date Published: 2017
• Length: 12 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2013-PM-BX-0010
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study queried a sample of 87 Florida law enforcement officers to gauge their perceptions, use, and perceived effectiveness of Florida's prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP).

Abstract

The misuse and abuse of prescription pain medication is a significant criminal justice and public health problem in the United States. As a result, prescription drug monitoring programs have been developed and implemented across the country to monitor patients with high abuse potential and to detect abnormalities in the prescribing of controlled substances. The current study's results indicate that most of the law enforcement officers considered themselves moderate-to-frequent users of the PDMP and believed the PDMP to be an effective system. In addition, many of the officers reported that their communication with prescribers and pharmacists had increased because of the PDMP. These findings notwithstanding, some officers noted a few barriers/limitations of the PDMP that needed to be addressed, such as "false negatives" and an inability to check another state's PDMP. Study limitations and implications are also discussed. (publisher abstract modified)